Issues like these have been top of Lind’s priority list over the past year, as Acra’s recruitment drive gathered apace – seeing it rebound from the dark days of the pandemic with inspiring vision and determination.
“During the pandemic we had to shut down production and we had to make some hard business decisions,” Lind explained. “We took our headcount down and we shut down the business for five months. I think that was in line with the rest of the industry, for the most part.
“From starting the business back up again that August, I’m very proud to say we’re already up from 160 people back then to almost 320 people today. Not only did we hire back a lot of the people that we laid off or furloughed, but we’ve added tremendous talent across the board, across all facets of the firm.”
It’s a remarkable achievement – and it’s clear that Lind’s leadership style makes up much of the driving force behind it.
“I use the mindset of empowering all of my managers and all of my leaders at the firm to make decisions and to think together and to think as a group,” he said. “I want my leaders to brainstorm, make decisions, think outside the box. I think that’s been very advantageous and driven a new sense of a stronger culture – whether that’s with new managers that I’ve hired, a new head of human resources, new chief revenue officer, new head of correspondent, new underwriters, new account managers and so on.”